Thursday, June 13, 2013

Craft Projects using the Silhouette

Target shadow box mirror that I added
"I will be grateful for this day"

I love all things crafty, so I've been dreaming about getting a silhouette for some time. It seems so easy and you only have to buy supplies which would be cheaper than buying, say, a vinyl cut out from a store. I rationalize that it would cost more if I bought everything I wanted than if I made it, so it made sense that I should buy it right? Right?

I'm just going to assume that you are going to say "Yes, of course. It's so wise, Sherri". So I bought it!

I got the smaller of the two silhouette products (Portrait instead of Cameo), but I couldn't justify the extra money for a few more inches.

Once I made that decision, I made the jump and I am now officially part of the dark side. Yay! :)

The best price I could find was on Amazon.com. $175 for the Silhouette Portrait and the vinyl kit with free shipping. Yay! They also have different kits too if vinyl isn't your thing-- like a cloth kit and a bedazzle kit. My vinyl kit came with a few different vinyls and plenty of contact paper, plus a few vinyl tools. The best part? It included a $35 gift card to use at their online store to buy more designs or fonts.

The package came today and I ripped it apart like nobody's business. I was literally like a 5 year old on Christmas day-- making squealing sounds, throwing wrapper in the air, shaking the box to get stuff out. In retrospect, I'm very, very happy that the man was at work. I'm sure he would make fun of me for days had he seen me going cray-cray over a package.

I ran to my craft room and unpacked, set up, and then started on my first project. Weeee!!!

This is what I learned: Plan your design. Start with something VERY simple for your first project. Like words or numbers. Or maybe one single picture. Don't believe that you are the Monet of Silhouette projects. You aren't. Right now you are a four year old trying to color in the lines.

I had all these vinyl wall art designs with different fonts and pretty symbols planned in my head. My first attempted project failed miserably, so I scratched my elaborate project in place of some organization projects to get some practice. Within minutes, I was labeling everything in my house.

My First Vinyl Project

Weeeee!! So much fun! And it really is very easy once you get passed spending the time to figure out how to work it (watching the instructional video ::yawn::). I'm just dreaming of all the things I will do!

It is soooo simple with the silhouette! You play around with the fonts and designs that you have and you can easily size them to exactly the right size of your project right on your computer. If you don't have what you want then hey have an online store where you can buy additional designs, fonts or pre-made word art for usually 0.99 cents and you can use them over and over. After you decide on your design you simply put the vinyl on the cutting board and send it through the silhouette machine. Out it comes and you simply peel off the unwanted vinyl (it can be tricker with the small, thin fonts but if you take your time it turns out fine). After you finished peeling off the unwanted vinyl you stick the design you want against contact paper, then apply it directly to the surface you want to adhere it too. Rub it a couple of times and peel off the contact paper! Tada! All done! So simple.

They give you a lot to play with for free too as far as designs and fonts. The only thing I bought and used was the design that I used to frame the word "Pantry" (picture below) and it was 0.99 cents! Bam!
I have gone vinyl crazy. I'm scared to think what will happen when I start playing around with some of the other features that the silhouette can do-- like card stock. I see some awesome Christmas cards in my future. ::sigh::

Here are some of the vinyl projects that I've finished, but there are plenty more coming!

Laundry Room Decor

Labeled the door in case I get dementia and forget where the food is.

Pantry Labels

White Beverage Tub that I added the word "Refreshments"

I labeled the canvas baskets that
I used in the linen closet for supplies

If you want a basic idea of how to make and apply vinyl then check out my post: DIY Decorative Vinyl Trashcan. The same principles apply to any of these projects and it's so easy!

Sherri Griffin

Thanks for checking out my blog. I get serious about a few things in life: animals, chemicals, and food. For the rest I can't promise anything so keep the bar low. For more about me check out my "About Me" page! Happy DIYing!

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You rock for reading all of that. {pats you on back}

Hi there! I’m Sherri! I teach awesome people fun ways to ditch harmful chemicals in their everyday lives. It’s kind of life changing and completely amazing. You should try it!